West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee's govt to provide Rs 28 crore grant to Durga Puja organizers in the state

Posted on: 11-09-2018 , 09:26:AM | DY365 Bureau

Picture credit: Oneindia

September 11, 2018: In a recent development, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a grant of Rs 28 crore to 28,000 puja committees across the state ahead of the festival of Durga Puja.

The Chief Minister said that her government will provide Rs 10,000 each to the puja committees under "community development programme."

The puja committees include 3,000 organisers in Kolkata and around 25,000 committees in the state. Mamata Banerjee said that the government would spend Rs 28 crore to provide the financial assistance to the Puja committees. The chief minister was speaking at the coordination meeting with Puja organisers and police at Netaji indoor stadium on Monday.

This apart, she also announced that the Durga Puja committees will no longer have to pay the fees to the Fire and Emergency Services Department to obtain licences.

Reportedly, Banerjee also requested the Puja committees to "resist all kind of advances" by some groups of people who might try to ‘buy the Puja committees by giving huge money’. “Do not bow down to get some amount of money. There are people who might try to buy the puja committees paying huge amount of money. Do not surrender to these forces,” said Banerjee.

Durga Puja, which is one of the prominent festivals of West Bengal, will be held in October.